Based on Maurice Renard’s 1920 French serialized novel The Hands of Orlac, in which the hands of a murderer are transplanted onto an injured concert pianist, Mad Love is remembered above all for Peter Lorre’s stunning performance as Dr. Gogol, a brilliant surgeon driven mad by obsessive love.
The film was directed by Karl Freund (The Mummy, 1932), a central figure in the development of horror cinema. Having begun his career as a renowned cinematographer, Freund brought with him the visual sensibility of German Expressionism, shaped by his earlier work on films such as Metropolis, Der Golem, and The Last Laugh. Aiding Freund in the visual look of Mad Love was none other than Gregg Toland, whose highly controlled and deeply shadowed lighting and camera compositions anticipate the technical mastery he would display in Citizen Kane.
Further heightening the film’s atmosphere is the eerie, restrained score by Dmitri Tiomkin, another legend in the making with credits for everyone from Capra to Hitchcock to Hawks, and everything from sci-fi, westerns, war films, and comedies to his Oscar-winning name.
Join AC and his awesome panel of guests (Nile Arena, Gavin Schmitt, Michael Weber, Bobby Zier) as we celebrate 90 years of Mad Love, an enduring horror classic and an early example of what would eventually come to be known as body horror!
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